I loved it. It is truly the first "adult" Marvel movie without any efforts to appeal to children at all. It is complex, well written, well directed and well acted. Safe to say, I am dying to see where AoS goes after this movie!

Interesting - I guess any blackout period has lifted and those who've seen it can get yapping about it. IGN posted their review today and it is equally glowing, and a quick check at Rotten Tomato shows 100% "fresh" (albeit only 9-10 reviews so far ...)

For those wondering how it relates to Joss, clearly he had input as to where he wanted this to take Cap in prep for Avengers, so I imagine his blueprints are all over this. I hope to hear in the all press to follow some discussion around those "joss at the head of the table" meetings

TallMichaelJ-I don't think Joss sits at the head of the table...he has his own gravity-so he's ok picking up the falling pieces. (As said-he worked on T:TDW just straightening scenes out. Not taking over and making other people's movies.)

The review was fine until it got to the 'need-to-fill-word-count-so-here's-the-movie's-plot-points-in-order' part-which I skipped.

I've never been this excited for a Marvel movie. Even more so than The Avengers I think. Every element just appeals to me. I'm mostly excited for more Natasha development. I didn't like her at all in Iron Man 2, but oh man did Joss turn everything around and she became my favorite movie superhero.

eddy-He did the same for Thor...that's still Kenneth Branaugh's movie. (Does anyone buy a ticket and sit through 1:45 for the 3 mins of after credits scene?) Do I love Joss? Of course. It's a disservice to the enormity of the task to say, "The MCU is his." (or even to say it relies on any single person.) A LOT of talented people have their oars in the water. Even if you have the Ace of Spades-you need four more cards for a Royal Flush.

@Darkness I thought the addition of the young boy in Iron Man three was an attempt to give a younger audiance someone to realeate to. ie: Marvels way of appealing to a younger audiance. I mean the kid didn't really service the plot, everything Tony did in with the child's help he could have done alone.

Also, Avengers and Iron Man 3 were colorful and exciting movies and they were much more lighthearted. Cap 2 feels heavy and is really dark in tone, more so than Tony's PTSD. And as I mentioned, the plot is the most complex between the MCU movies and kids will have a hard time keeping interest in the movie between action sequences, which are not as exciting to watch due to Cap being a simple supersoldier. This feels like a superhero Bourne movie and I label this as a DC movie done right: enough dark, enough gritty and enough real.

Also, Scarlet Witch looks awesome in the end-credits scene. Didn't know she was going to show up and I screamed a little when she did. Liz Olsen is great!

For me, the movie is unjustly called Winter Soldier and left too much to be desired on that department, especially with the ending. You should stay through the second end-credits scene though, it's not as useless as Thor: The Dark World's :)

DanielJay92, the kid in Iron-Man 3 gave Tony a sounding board at a time when he didn't have anyone else. That's an important function in a plot. I like Tony, but 15 minutes of him only having himself to talk to isn't the best way to do things. He needs someone to play off of.

Also, the kid was one more voice saying that the armor was Iron-Man, which pushed Tony to say that no, he was Iron-Man. That's an important theme in the movie.

Also, Avengers and Iron Man 3 were colorful and exciting movies and they were much more lighthearted.

I think the reason (as far as Stark is concerned) is that to be blunt, the current cultural zeitgeist as well as the proclivities of a corporation releasing films is far more comfy puttying governmental organizational cynicism on screen than it is having Stark deal with the collateral damage of the builder/Ayn Randian stock character. Whereas Cap WILL deal with his faith in a system being tested, Stark will NOT deal with bad guys created by... say his automation technologies creating poverty in certain areas. Leaving any economic debate out of it, there are costs that are borne any time technology advances. These aren't things I ever expect Stark to be tested on in a Marvel film. The questions are too real and they're not something that lend to a witty rebuttal.

Really, to give IM the same type of human relevance to make a Dark Knight or Cap 2 style film, you have to be willing to ask very human, very cutting questions about a person's heroic makeup. Stark in Marvel is still very much the playboy that just has to deal with self doubt like everyone else. It's a very shallow human exploration.

By the way, I like Iron Man so don't think I'm trying to knock the product. I just notice the 2014 art has a lot harder time asking tough questions about economics and individualism than it does about Government.